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Some Fowlerville High School students are mourning the death of a former classmate who died on his 19th birthday.

Friends say James Huey, 19, was one of two people killed in a one-car accident in Ingham County's Bunker Hill Township on Saturday. They say Huey attended Fowlerville High his freshman year and part of his sophomore year.

Huey reportedly was in a car that left the roadway, struck a tree and burst into flames. A driver in another vehicle spotted the car smoldering against a tree and called 911.

The Ingham County Sheriff’s Office is investigating the accident, which occurred at around 7 a.m. on Plains Road between Meridian and Kelly roads.

Detective Sgt. Greg Harris said Tuesday that it may take two days or possibly up to two weeks to identify the bodies. The cause of the accident is still unknown, Harris said.

Family and friends will hold a memorial service for Huey at 4 p.m. Jan. 9 at Jeruel Baptist Church in Munith, according to a family member's Facebook post on Tuesday.

A GoFundMe effort also is underway online to help Huey's family pay for burial costs.

Julia Wykes, a Fowlerville High School senior, said Huey’s

mother told her that James had died in a car accident earlier in the day. She later learned it was the accident on Plains Road from other Facebook posts.

“She said she wanted me to know that James had passed away that morning in a car accident,” Wykes said.

Wykes and James Huey became friends when they started riding the school bus together in the seventh grade. She lived on Fowlerville Road and he lived down the street on Sargeant Road. The two became best friends in high school.

She last saw Huey a little more than a year ago when her mother picked him up at his uncle’s house in Stockbridge so they could go to a Halloween festival in Hell, a town some 15 miles south of Howell.

“James was one of those people who could walk into your life one day and become your best friend,” Wykes said.

Hannah Pritchett, also a Fowlerville High senior, described Huey as a person who liked to joke around and make others smile. Pritchett and Huey had some of the same classes during their first two years of high school.

Pritchett said she stayed in touch with Huey through Facebook and Skype after he left the school. James Huey often visited friends in Fowlerville, she said.

“He was always really kind, always asking how you were doing and if you needed help with anything,” Pritchett said Tuesday. "He was always helpful.

“It’s not like he had a perfect life either, but he always cared more about how others were doing than himself,” she added.

Contact Livingston County business reporter Noe Hernandez at 517-552-2854 or at nhernandez@livingstondaily.com. Follow him on Twitter @sayyesnoe.